By Scott Gilfoid: 2008 Olympian super heavyweight David Price (21-4, 18 KOs) will be back inside the ring tonight to give it a go against journeyman Kamil Sokolowski (4-11-2, 1 KOs) in a 6-round scheduled match at the Brentwood Centre on MTK Global’s ‘Pride & Glory’ card.
This is seen as a comeback fight for the 34-year-old Price, who was blasted out in 7 rounds in his last fight against Christian Hammer on February 4. That was a fight Price was supposed to win, but he didn’t. He fell apart completely after emptying his gas tank in round 5. Price blames the defeat on him coming in too heavy, and at less than peak condition.
Price has dropped weight for the fight against the 31-year-old Sokolowski, and he thinks he’ll do better. We’ll have to judge that for ourselves. What’s worrisome is Price talking about wanting to get some rounds in against Sokolowski. Price says he hasn’t been getting in enough work due to him scoring a lot of knockouts. He wants to make sure he can get some rounds in against Sokolowski.
With only 1 knockout on his resume, Sokolowski is clearly viewed as a safe opponent for Price to toy with and practice on. Personally, I’m not so sure that’s a good thing for Price to do. The way that he gassed out against Hammer, anyone in the heavyweight division would have knocked him out on the night, and I’m talking ANYONE. Sokolowski has more than enough power to KO Price if he exhausts himself in the same way he did against Hammer. It’s not as if Hammer hit Price with anything to get the stoppage in round 7. Hammer is not a puncher, but he didn’t need to be to get faded Price out of there.
”I’m a victim of my own punching power sometimes,” said Price. ”I want to get a few rounds under my belt.”
This is what I was afraid of. Price is blabbering about wanting to get rounds in tonight against the trial horse Sokolowski. Normally, I would be in favor of Price taking his time, using Sokolowski as a practice punching bag before going for the knockout in the 5th or 6th rounds, but I don’t think that’s a good idea. Given Price’s history of being hurt in fights, I don’t think it’s a good idea at all for him to let Sokolowski hang around for any length of time. If I were coaching Price, I would tell him to get it over with in the 1st round, as I wouldn’t have any confidence in his ability to take a hard shot without falling apart. Sokolowski is going to load up on everything he throws. Even a journeyman level guy with 1 knockout on his resume has to be viewed as a threat to knocking Price out at this point in his career. I’m just saying. Sokolowski has an advantage in that he knows Price can’t take a shot without nose-diving to the canvas, so he’s probably going to be loading up on everything he throws at him tonight.
“I’ve dropped a bit of weight and I feel in great shape, so I’m looking forward to getting in there and getting some rounds,” said Price.
It’s good news that Price has lost some weight. His best weight was 250lbs, and in his last fight against Hammer, he came in at 275 lbs. Price looked like he was carrying around an extra 25 pounds of fat in that fight. With IBF/WBA heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, when he puts on weight, it’s all body building muscle. It’s useless weight, to be sure, but at least it’s not fat. When Price puts on weight, it’s useless fat, and it really slows him down. For Price’s sake, I hope he comes into tonight’s fight in the neighborhood of 250, because that’s where he needs to be fighting at.
If Price loses tonight, I hope he does the right thing and hangs up his gloves and walks off into the sunset. I’ll be the first one to tell him that he needs to retire pronto, because there’s nowhere he can go from a loss like. I mean, come on. It’ bad enough that Price is getting knocked out by mediocre heavyweights like Christian Hammer, Erkan Teper and Tony Thompson, but getting stopped by Sokolowski would be the end. There’s no returning from a loss like that. Price wouldn’t be able to explain it away by saying he was too heavy or he didn’t train right. If Price gets chinned by Sokolowski tonight, the only conclusion you can draw from a loss like that is he can’t take a punch. Price is in the wrong division to be having a chin problem. It might be okay for a fighter to have punch resistance issues if they were fighting at minimumweight, but definitely not at heavyweight. You have to be able to take a decent shot at heavyweight if you want to go anywhere.
There’s no shame in Price retiring if he loses to Sokolowski tonight. It’s better for Price to know when to call it a day than for him to be sticking around longer than necessary.